Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 133,715 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,566 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PepsiCo were worth $14,773,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PEP. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $566,000. Telos Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,760,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC now owns 106,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,746,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in PepsiCo in the 4th quarter worth about $434,000. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its stake in PepsiCo by 20.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 24,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after buying an additional 4,133 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.79% of the company’s stock.

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PepsiCo stock opened at $129.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $178.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. PepsiCo, Inc. has a one year low of $96.55 and a one year high of $129.87.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $12.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.68 billion. PepsiCo had a return on equity of 65.12% and a net margin of 19.37%. PepsiCo’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that PepsiCo, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.955 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. This is a positive change from PepsiCo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $3.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 65.55%.

In related news, CEO Vivek Sankaran sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.28, for a total transaction of $1,524,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,599,649.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Yawman sold 25,263 shares of PepsiCo stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.42, for a total value of $3,193,748.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 80,934 shares in the company, valued at $10,231,676.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,063 shares of company stock worth $5,701,110 over the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 price target on PepsiCo and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $115.00 price objective on PepsiCo and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Zacks Investment Research lowered PepsiCo from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on PepsiCo from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 19th. Finally, SunTrust Banks lifted their price objective on PepsiCo to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $124.65.

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